Tear or cut a patchwork patterned fabric into small squares. Working one square at a time, brush Mod Podge on the fronts and backs of squares with a craft brush. Attach them to the pumpkin, brushing more Mod Podge on top. Repeat, overlapping squares as you go, until pumpkin is covered.

This creative idea doubles as a game you can play with your kids! Start by cutting large holes in the bottom of two pumpkins; scoop out the pulp and seeds. Download and trace the face template on the pumpkins, then cut out the faces. Stack the pumpkins and use skewers to help hold the top pumpkin in place. To play, toss beanbags into mouths—10 points for bottom, 20 points for top.

Remove the stem from a small delicata squash and set it aside. Hot-glue small wood rounds on the top and bottom of the squash. Wrap the squash with yarn, overlapping to keep it in place. Hot-glue the stem in the center of the top wood round.

If you can't get enough of mason jars, you'll love this idea. Remove the stem of a medium pumpkin and set it aside. Use wired twine to spell out “fall” and hot-glue to the pumpkin. Paint the pumpkin and twine with light blue craft paint. Let dry completely. Place a 9-to-10-inch tart pan upside down on the pumpkin. Hot-glue the stem to the center of the pan.

Use red, orange, yellow, green, and blue craft paint to paint stripes on small white pumpkins. Once dry, spray the pumpkin with a spray adhesive and sprinkle with clear glitter. Cover a 3-inch-high rectangular cardboard box in colorful craft paper. Poke 2-inch holes, corresponding to the number of pumpkins you have and spacing evenly, in the top of the box. Place snow cone paper holders in holes and fill halfway with white sand. Place pumpkins on top.

Begin by running green twine in the creases of a medium and small pumpkin, using hot glue to hold it in place at the tops and bottoms. Cut pointy collars (on a tomato, this is technically called a “sepal”) from green felt and attach with hot glue. Wrap a piece of twine around the stem of the small pumpkin and hang from the stem of the medium one. Insert metal food picks to mimic pins.

How adorable is this little family? Begin by downloading and tracing our ears and nose templates on pink felt, then cut them out. Cut out inner ear pieces (they should be slightly smaller than the felt) from patterned pink craft paper. Use craft glue to attach the paper to the felt. Hot-glue the ears and noses to the pumpkins. Paint two pumpkin seeds with black craft paint. Hot-glue seeds for eyes for mama and small black buttons for mama’s nostrils and piglets’ eyes and nostrils. Twist pink pipe cleaners in coils; hot-glue one to the back of each pumpkin to create tails.

Hop to it! First, download our ears and top nose templates and trace on gray felt. Feel free to scale up or down as necessary to fit your pumpkin. Then, cut out. Trace nose “button” on pink felt, again, scaling up or down as necessary and cut out. Hot-glue pink nose button on the center of a white pumpkin. Use craft glue to attach twigs from wheat stalks to the back of the gray nose top; glue on top of pink button, overlapping slightly. Outline the bottom of the nose with brown twine, using hot-glue to attach. Attach ears and acorn tops for eyes with hot-glue.

This sweet "cake," looks almost good enough to eat. To make this pumpkin, start by using white craft paint to paint a drippy-looking glaze on a Musquee de Provence pumpkin, which naturally mimics the shape of a bundt. Display your delicious looking creation on a cake stand along with a mini pumpkin prize ribbon.

Old MacDonald's got nothing on you! Download our cow ear and nose templates and trace on brown leather, scaling up or down as necessary, and cut out. Download our forehead pattern and trace on a corn husk, again, scaling up or down as necessary; cut out. Hot-glue ears, nose, and forehead to the bottom of a pumpkin. Be sure to place the nose just below center. Paint two pumpkin seeds with black craft paint. Hot-glue seeds for nostrils, black buttons for eyes, and dried bunny tail grass tops for horns.

Okay, so this isn't a pumpkin, but it might be the cutest decorated squash we've seen. Start by adding stripes to a red Hubbard squash, which naturally mimics the shape of a hot-air balloon. Use varying colors of electrical tape and overlap as necessary to create desired width. Next, thread string through a mini basket and attach to the pointy end of the squash with a nail or thumbtack. Fill basket three-fourths full with plastic packing material as this will keep it from getting too heavy. Then, top with mini pumpkins. Finish by inserting a hook into the stem end of the squash; tie rope around the hook to hang.

Challenge the family to a spirited seasonal competition. Cut numbers (three “10s,” two “5s,” and one “1”) from colorful paper. Attach to small orange and white pumpkins with double-sided tape. Stack pumpkins—10s on the bottom, 5s in the middle, and 1 on top. To play, toss small wooden balls to knock down pumpkins.

Your pumpkins will take the top prize when you deck them out with this winning idea.

For each ribbon, cut two paper rounds—one two inches and one one and one-half inches larger than a mini pumpkin—from paper in the color of your choice.

Next, trim the edge of the small circle with pinking shears. Place the smaller circle in the center of the larger circle and attach with craft glue. Cut two rectangular strips of the same color paper and notch the bottoms. Add a decorative border using a gold or silver paint pen. Glue rectangles to the back of the larger circle, overlapping at the top center, but angling out at the bottom.

Cut a third circle, about one a half-inch smaller than the pumpkin; use a small hole punch to make a hole in the center and add a decorative border with the corresponding color paint pen. Hot-glue large circles and tails to the back of pumpkin and thread small circle over the stem (use hot-glue to hold in place, if necessary).

Tickets, please! Begin by separating a roll of raffle tickets into individual tickets. One ticket at a time, brush glossy Mod Podge on fronts and backs with a paint brush. Attach to a pumpkin, and continue to add more, overlapping them as you go and finishing with Mod Podge on top. Repeat until the entire pumpkin is covered.

Tear corn husks (or tamale wrappers, if you'd like) into one-fourth to one-half-inch strips. Cover a pumpkin in the color of your choice with strips, hot-gluing in place on the top and bottom. Hot-glue smaller strips around the stems of pumpkins. You'll need about 25 strips for a small pumpkin and 75 for a large pumpkin.

Because these retro relics often feature fall scenery—tree-lined trails, babbling brooks—you can find them gracing the heart-pine paneling in plenty a cabin. To create the ones you see at left, photocopy your favorite works of art (or simply Google "vintage paint by numbers" and print your favorite scenes, scaling them up or down as necessary). Cut paper printouts into half-inch strips, and attach to white pumpkins using Mod Podge. (Line up the image as best you can, taking heart in the fact that some imperfection adds charm.) Attach twig "frames" with hot-glue.

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Brian Woodcock

Woody Wagoneer Pumpkin

Trace the Wagoneer template on plaid fabric, scaling up or down as necessary, and cut out; attach to a pumpkin with small map tacks. Cut the wood panel from wood grain-patterned Duck Tape, and attach to the wagon. Use hot-glue to attach silver cordingto the wagon to outline the windows and wood panel. Glue a small spiral of cording to create the gas cap and a zigzag to create the bumpers. Hot-glue small wood slices for the wheels and small twigs to the roof to create the roof rack. Top with a toy canoe and oars.

A produce section staple this time of year, acorn squash is an obvious pick to mimic the classic nut, so squirrel away this easy idea. Cut a 4-foot piece of thin tan twine, and attach one end near the stem of the squash with a small map tack; wrap the twine around the top third of the squash, applying hot-glue intermittently. Adhere end with hot-glue, and trim excess twine.

Remove stem from a large pumpkin. Attach two pieces of wood in an inverted "V" shape using l-brackets. Attach a triangular-shaped piece of wood in the top corners of "roof" with hot-glue; cover the wood with wood-patterned paper. Attach stem to the wood roof with hot-glue to create a chimney. Use pinecone scales to create overlapping shingles on roof (secure with hot-glue). Insert a piece of thin wire into the chimney, and wrap a puff of batting around the wire to create smoke. Rest the roof on top of the pumpkin. Create a window by gluing twigs in a 4-pane window shape. Pleat two small pieces of fabric, and hot-glue to the back of the window to make curtains. To make the door and threshold, use an l-bracket to attach two small pieces of wood perpendicular to each other. Use hot-glue to attach twigs for the door frame. Attach leaves to create a wreath. Make a "walkway" with small rocks.

Scale the dartboard template up or down as necessary. Use template to cut 10 triangles from white contact paper and 10 triangles from black contact paper. Adhere to the pumpkin, lining up the edges, as shown above. Use template to cut rings from black, red, and green contact paper. Adhere the large black ring on the outside of the triangles, overlapping the edges slightly. Adhere the red ring along the inside edge of the black ring, overlapping edges slightly. Adhere the green ring on the dartboard. Use the template to cut small circles from green and red contact paper; adhere to the center of the board. Hot-glue silver cording along the seams of the white and black triangles. Adhere white vinyl stick-on numbers on the black ring. Add darts as desired.

No cabin evening is complete without a roaring fire. To assemble yours, cut a hole in the bottom of an extra-large pumpkin, and scoop out pulp and seeds. Trace the door template on the pumpkin, scaling up or down as necessary. Chisel out the outline, and use a knife to cut out the windowpanes. Paint the pumpkin (excluding chiseled section) black. Fill with sticks longer than the hole, and top with battery-operated tea lights. Remove the stems from four small pumpkins, and paint pumpkins black; place stove pumpkin on top. Rest a piece of solid, expandable drain pipe over the stem; attach pipe to the wall or ceiling to help it stay upright.

Start with a white pumpkin, such as a "Lumina." Cut out the design from our template to create a stencil of desired quilt pattern. Tape the stencil to the pumpkin and use a foam stencil paintbrush and acrylic paint to create the pattern. Repeat as desired. Take note: You don't have to put your pumpkins out to pasture once Halloween is over. Display your handiwork year after year with artificial, carvable pumpkins.

Start with two small white pumpkins or paint regular pumpkins a matte white. Use a knife to remove the stem from one and stack both as shown, using wooden skewers to secure. Cut a rectangular piece of faux sheep fur (often called "Sherpa Fur") and shape into a snout, gluing ends together with fabric glue. Stitch or hot-glue pink embroidery floss onto the tip to finish the nose. Cut two triangular shaped ears from the same material and attach both nose and ears to top pumpkin using hot-glue. Wrap knobby white yarn around three fingers, three times. Slip the loops off fingers and tie one end together with a piece of yarn. Clip the opposite loops with scissors to create a tassel. Repeat until you have enough tassels to cover the top pumpkin, then attach to the top pumpkin using hot-glue. Trim as necessary. Hot-glue two horns as shown and two black buttons in place for eyes. needed.)

Cut a hole in the bottom of two to three pumpkins, and scoop out pulp and seeds. Trace the templates onto pumpkins. Use a knife to cut out the petals and leaves. Starting in the center of the sunflower, use hot-glue to attach different colors of twine in a spiral pattern. For the stalk, attach green twine in a tight zigzag pattern with hot-glue. Remove the stem from the bottom pumpkin(s); stack as shown.(No wilting sunflowers here! Use wooden skewers to secure your stack.)

Turn an oblong pumpkin on its side, then trace the template. Use a potter's needle tool to indent the outline. Chisel out the truck's window and outline using a small potter's ribbon tool, then paint truck desired color using acrylic paint. Stain three mini wooden craft sticks with wood stain; cut off rounded ends (reserving two) and cut one in half. Use hot-glue to attach the sticks on truck bed (trimming as needed) to create the railing and rounded ends to create bumpers. Hot-glue buttons for wheels. Attach a toy trailer and fill with mini pumpkins. Take a trip to the hardware store to make a silo. Top a length of 6-inch semi-rigid flexible duct with a 3-inch storm collar then a 1-quart galvanized funnel (tube removed).

TIP: Before you grab those carving tools, give your pumpkin a good cleaning with a mild soap and water to help keep mold at bay.

Start with brown and black cupcake liners. Create eyes and wings for your owl by cutting out the inside of the wings, an eyelid and circle out of the black liner. Glue on the black cut outs to create two owl eyes. Next, create the nose and wings with black construction paper. Make sure to cut off the stem from the pumpkin you will be using as a base. Use hot glue on the top pf the bottom pumpkin and secure the top pumpkin before the glue dries. Use hot glue to secure all owl features.

Make several color copies of grain sacks, adjusting pattern size as needed. Cut the copies into 1-inch-wide strips. Using a medium-strength adhesive like Mod Podge and a wide, flat paintbrush, adhere the strips to the pumpkin, replicating the pattern as best as possible and trimming any excess as you work. Once the pattern is complete, use the same technique to cover the remaining pumpkin with plain white strips of paper. You can use this grain sack technique for any paper printout, from photocopied book pages (hello, Edgar Allan Poe!) to photos.

FOR THE HEN: Cut a hole in the bottom of a large pumpkin, and scoop out pulp and seeds. Trace the hen template. Use a knife to cut out the body and a pencil to lightly trace the comb. Paint comb with red acrylic paint. Tie together several strands of raffia and hot-glue in place to create the tail. Insert a piece of white chicken wire behind the hen's body, then adhere twigs with hot-glue to create legs and feet.

FOR THE CHICKS: Trace the chick template onto a smaller whole pumpkin. Use a potter's needle to indent the outline, then chisel out using a potter's ribbon tool. Insert a black pushpin for the eye; adhere twigs with hot-glue for the feet.

Hang a piece of wood around a pumpkin stem to point guests to a campsite, party, or to simply say "Welcome." Download our campsite template. (Adjust template size as needed.) Trace template on a piece of wood or bark, and paint white. Drill two small holes in the top of the wood sign, and insert a piece of pliable wire to create a hanger. Hang around stem.

Add homespun charm to your decor with our tepee and campfire. Download and print our cross-stitch patterns. (Adjust pattern size as needed.) Tape onto artificial, carvable pumpkins. (Trust us: You'll want to display these year after year.) Punch through the pattern's cross-stitch points with an awl. Use a jab saw to cut an opening in the bottom of both pumpkins large enough for your hand to work inside. Cross-stitch using a tapestry needle and yarn. For tepee support poles and campfire logs, adhere twigs with hot-glue.

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Brian Woodcock

Butternut Squash Moose

Squash the pumpkin competition with this clever no-carve fella. Cut out a piece of white felt, and hand-stitch a border using brown embroidery floss. Attach two small light brown felt circles to the white felt piece with hot-glue to create nostrils. Hot-glue white felt piece to lower portion of butternut squash. For each eye, sew a dark button to a slightly larger white felt circle (use white thread to mimic the pupil of the eye) and glue to squash as shown. Download our moose ear patterns. Pin patterns to brown felt, and cut out two of each template. Use brown embroidery floss to sew matching pieces together, leaving a small opening. Insert cotton stuffing and hand-stitch closed. Hot-glue ears to top of the squash.

Light up a trick-or-treater's way with this bright spin on a jack-o'-lantern. Cut a hole in the bottom of a large pumpkin, and scoop out pulp and seeds. Download our lantern template. (Adjust template size as needed to fit your pumpkin.) Trace the template onto pumpkin in pencil. Use a knife to cut out the "glass" portion of the lantern, then paint image desired colors. Insert armature wire into the sides of the pumpkin as shown to create a decorative handle. Place candle inside and light.

Select the color you would like your pumpkin to be. Paint the pumpkin completely and let dry. Next, outline your 'Boo' with a sharpie or a pen. Place pushpins in design.

TIP: If you are unsure of how to design your pumpkin map it out with pencil first.

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Brian Woodcock

Faux Bois Pumpkin

Go with the grain! Carve out a gussied-up "false wood" gourd. Download our faux bois pattern. (Adjust pattern size as needed.) Transfer to pumpkin, and trace over lines with a carving tool.

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Brian Woodcock

Hudson Bay Blanket Pumpkin

No carving required? Now that's an idea we can cozy up to! Start with a white pumpkin, such as a lumina (or paint a regular pumpkin a matte white). Wrap electrical tape in green, red, yellow, and blue around the pumpkin, taking care to make sure all lines are evenly spaced and that all seams meet in the same area. For black lines, cut 5-inch-long pieces of electrical tape in half and apply to pumpkin as shown.

Hoo-hoo wouldn't love this wide-eyed winged pal? Hot-glue two white (lumina) pumpkins together to create the head and body. For each eye, cut out a small brown felt circle, then glue a slightly smaller yellow button on top, followed by an even smaller brown button. Hot-glue eyes to top pumpkin. Create loops from a thin twig and tie in place with wax twine to create eyeglasses shape. Hot-glue fir sprigs to glasses to create eyebrows. Spray-paint two oak leaves and a baby pinecone a similar color to pumpkin. Hot-glue leaves to pumpkin to create wings and pinecone to create a nose. Make a bow tie from ¼-inch plaid ribbon. Hot-glue to pumpkin.

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Brian Woodcock

Big Dipper Pumpkin

A twinkling twist on typical carved decor. Cut a hole in the back of a large pumpkin and scoop out pulp and seeds. Coat the surface with chalkboard spray-paint and let dry; season as instructed. Use white stick chalk to mark the Big Dipper, then drill through the points with a medium drill bit. Insert a battery-powered string of lights in the constellation points. Use white chalk to connect points, and draw additional stars on pumpkin.

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Jennifer Causey

Carved "Boo" Jar

This ode to the iconic Ball Mason jar features "fireflies" courtesy of string lights. Cut a hole in the bottom of the gourd and scoop out pulp and seeds. Tape transfer paper onto the surface, followed by our downloadable jar sketch. Trace design using a pencil; remove papers. Using an X-Acto knife, follow the transferred image to chisel the outline of the jar onto the pumpkin, then use a linoleum cutter to gently shave the surrounding area as shown. For fireflies, cut several holes with a small clay hole cutter, then illuminate with battery-powered lights.

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Jennifer Causey

Thumbtack Message

Create a tack-o'-lantern with this office store staple. Paint pumpkin desired color in a matte finish. Write letters with an erasable wax pencil, then use a hammer to tap in nailheads along the script. (The shorter the word, the more clearly it will read.)

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Jennifer Causey

Drilled Shapes

We're over the moon for these dotted odes to country icons. Cut a hole in the bottom of a large pumpkin and scoop out pulp and seeds. Mark off a pattern with an erasable wax pencil, then use a medium drill bit to punch out a dotted outline of your image. Leave approximately the same amount of space between each hole.

Personalize your pumpkin with a little embroidery. Cut a hole in the bottom of a large pumpkin and scoop out pulp and seeds. Using an erasable wax pencil, draw a series of Xs to create your desired letter. (Try the alphabet tool at stitchpoint.comfor inspiration.) Use a small drill bit to pierce holes at the "corners"of each X. Using a large needle, thread butcher's twine through the openings in an "x" pattern to create a cross-stitched effect.

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Jennifer Causey

Chalk Drawings

Black is the new orange! Display a spooky message or motif with this easy how-to. Coat the surface with chalkboard spray-paint. Let dry, then use a white chalk marker to add a festive phrase or illustration. Hosting a Halloween party? You can also write your menu on a pumpkin and display it on a sideboard alongside the eats.

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Jennifer Causey

Burlap Ribbon

Tie on country charm with this rustic fabric. Secure a strip of narrow burlap ribbon to the top of the shell using hot-glue, then run ribbon along the side of the pumpkin and secure it to the bottom with glue. Repeat as desired. Twist ribbon to add two curled tendrils at the top. Secure with hot-glue. (Wired or coiled ribbon will hold its shape best.)

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John Kernick

Painted Pumpkin City

A passel of pumpkins provides the backdrop for a quaint village scene.

Step 1: Carve a hole in the bottom of each pumpkin, scoop out the pulp, and return the cut pieces.

Step 3: Cut out stencils as directed on the templates and affix to pumpkins with masking tape. Trace on the designs with a felt-tip pen.

Step 4: Remove stencils, then carefully carve along the drawn lines of the houses' windows with an X-Acto knife. Fill in the designs using a fine-tip brush and black flat acrylic paint; let dry. Affix a battery-operated votive candle in the base of each pumpkin with adhesive putty.

Give even the smallest gourds a cultivated air by selecting a floral fabric with a petite pattern, which will disguise overlapping seams. Our pick: a cotton calico. Photocopy the fabric in color, making enough copies to cover your Funkin. Measure the distance from the bottom center of the Funkin to the base of its stem. Cut the photocopies into strips of this length, each about one inch wide. Using our découpage technique, cover the entire Funkin with the strips, working from the base of the stem down and overlapping the paper slightly as you work.

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Trevor Dixon

Howling Display

This diorama pairs materials from your own yard with an 11¼"W x 14"H black Funkin. To get started, print our carving templates; cut, as indicated, to create stencils for the tree-framed opening and moon at the back. With a felt-tip pen, trace the designs onto your Funkin, then carve. Spray-paint the Funkin's interior black; let dry one hour. Place a green Styrofoam disk inside the faux pumpkin as a base. Using our photo as a guide, stick twigs into the base to form trees, then cover the base with moss. Finally, hot-glue a wolf figurine to a rock, and set it and other rocks atop the moss.

We love this naturally brilliant idea from shopterrain.com. Just use ModPodge to découpage a white gourd with pressed leaves. You can harvest the foliage from your own backyard—or online at naturespressed.com.

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Star Power

For this modern take on a classic quilt pattern, download our motif and print out in color. Determine how many stars you'll need to span the circumference of your Funkin and make color copies of the motif, resizing if necessary.

Cut out and set aside. Paint the Funkin with two coats of flat white acrylic paint; let dry. Using our découpage technique, apply the stars in a band around the Funkin.

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Burcu Avsar

Moth Decal Pumpkins

The secret to these moth-adorned marvels? Weather-resistant vinyl decals. Show them to their best advantage against white pumpkins: Use a foam brush to cover each pumpkin with two coats of acrylic paint, allowing 30 minutes of drying time per coat, before applying decals.

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Jennifer Causey

Deer Pumpkin

Wrap tree branch "antlers" with yarn for a colorful woodland creature. Start with a plain white pumpkin, such as Lumina. Wind yarn tightly around branches in a color-blocked pattern, using image as a guide. Secure loose yarn ends to branches with hot-glue. To insert antlers, drill two holes into the upper third of the shell, angling the drill bit down so ant-lers stick up, not out. Attach button eyes, a triangle felt nose, and pin-ched felt triangle ears with hot-glue.

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